White House to Strengthen Government Supply Chain as Part of New IP Enforcement Effort
The U.S. government plans to shore up its supply chain security to help prevent intellectual property infringing merchandise as part of a new administration effort to improve IP enforcement, the White House said in its annual IP report released June 20 (here). The governmental supply chain should serve as a model for preventing IP violations, the report said. The administration plans to release its final "Strategy on Counterfeits in the U.S. Government Supply Chain" report later this year. IPEC and State Department officials will continue to work with G-8 governments to adhere to their commitments regarding counterfeits in government supply chains, the report said.
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U.S. Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator (IPEC) Victoria Espinel said the administration will focus on infringement that has a "significant impact on the economy, the global economic competitiveness of the United States, the security of our nation and the health and safety of the American public." Enforcement officials also plan to focus on the "troubling patent litigation tactics that present a significant and growing challenge to innovation," the report said. Earlier this month, the White House announced a series of executive actions and legislative recommendations specifically designed to deal with abusive patent litigation (see 13060431). Espinel will chair a recently announced interagency effort with the International Trade Commission (ITC) and CBP aimed at "strengthening the processes that CBP uses with regard to enforcement of ITC exclusion orders pertaining to intellectual property," the report said (see 13061916).
Private sector companies have already adopted best practices to curb the sale of counterfeit goods, the report said. Voluntary efforts that "expand the reach of legitimate alternatives to infringement, including through the development of copyright registries and online databases, micro-licensing arrangements, and other market-driven mechanisms" are an effective way to curb copyright theft, it said. Congress has only been able to enact seven of the administration's 20 IP legislative recommendations since 2010, including modest laws to penalize the sale of counterfeit goods to the military and increase penalties for economic espionage and trafficking in counterfeit drugs, the report said. The report also touted increased enforcement of copyright infringement crimes and increased investigations into theft of trade secrets and customs seizures of infringing imports.
Motion Picture Association of America CEO Chris Dodd said he "welcomed the important steps" the administration has taken but said "there is much more to be done to ensure an environment in which American creativity and innovation can truly flourish," in a news release Thursday. "We share with this administration a commitment to promoting and protecting American intellectual property by opening new markets to U.S. products, educating the public about both the value of IP industries and the damage done by theft from those industries and encouraging voluntary best practices among private sector companies that have key responsibilities in the Internet landscape," he said. -- Bryce Baschuk